Urgent Action for Democracy in Honduras

Posted on Thu, 11/30/2017 - 11:40am

TAKE ACTION TODAY FOR DEMOCRACY IN HONDURAS! Breaking News Dec 1: curfew imposed in Honduras as of 11pm December 1. People on the ground are reporting heavy militarization, 21 people were submitted with wounds from state violence to Hospital Escuela in Tegucigalpa between 8-9pm just before the curfew went into effect.

Amidst substantial fraud following a clear lead by the Opposition Alliance candidate Salvador Rasmalla in Sunday's Honduran presidential elections, it is feared that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (controlled by the National Party) will declare a National Party win, as incumbent Juan Orlando Hernández already has himself. We absolutely MUST call our congressional representatives and the US embassy and demand that the US respect the democratic decision of the Honduran people, cut US security aid to the Honduran military and police, uphold transparency, and NOT recognize the continuation of the current dictatorship.

I’ve been on a delegation to Honduras sponsored by La Voz de los de Abajo along with CODE PINK (both members of Honduras Solidarity Network) since Friday, November 24.

We came here as a delegation of human rights observers during the presidential elections, which took place on Sunday, November 26. As we observed the elections from the opening of the polls until the closing, we witnessed high levels of military presence at the polls (see the photo above), first hand attempts at voter fraud, outright voter intimidation and bribery from National Party supporters, the party of current president, Juan Orlando Hernández. Hernández is running for re-election despite the fact that the Honduran constitution clearly states that the president can only serve one term.

A few hours after polls closed it was clear that the opposition party candidate was well ahead, Salvador Nasralla from the Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship (OAED). Over the past few days since the election, the international press, including the New York Times, has reported that Nasralla has a substantial lead in the polls and is the likely president elect. A third party candidate, from the Liberal Party has already congratulated Nasralla as the next president of Honduras.

However, the National party currently in power insists that not all the ballots have been counted. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal has announced that they will not confirm who the winner is until today, Thursday November 30th. There have already been mass celebrations in the streets celebrating the victory of Nasralla, as well as protests demanding that the National Party concede and acknowledge the new presidency of Nasralla.

Late last night, in preparation for an announcement of the winner, several thousand people gathered in downtown Tegucigalpa, centering around electoral headquarters as the last ballot boxes were delivered for a final count.

Before a final count or presidential winner was announced, military police tear gassed the crowd, and protesters and election observers fled.

News out of Tegucigalpa is reporting that Hernández has taking a lead in the polls, but still no official announcement of who has won the presidency.

Since the coup of 2009, Honduras has been under a dictatorship of the National Party. Since then, and since the 2016 assassination of Indigenous environmental feminist organizer Berta Cáceres, the people of Honduras are awake and fed up.

It is feared that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (controlled by the National Party) will declare a National Party win today, as Hernández already has himself. We absolutely MUST call our congressional representatives and the US embassy and demand that the US not recognize the continuation of the dictatorship and demand that we recognize the democratically elected presidency of Nasralla.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras – Just before midnight on Wednesday November 29, a crowd of several thousand anti-fraud protesters in Honduras - including numerous young children - was tear-gassed repeatedly by a military police tank and riot police outside of the INFOP – the building where all of the ballots and tally sheets from last Sunday’s elections are being stored and counted.

The incident took place three tense days after national elections left both sides claiming victory, but official initial results pointing to a five percentage point victory for the Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship’s candidate Salvador Nasralla. After several days delay, numerous irregularities and unexplained transmission outages, Wednesday afternoon official results began to show a slight advantage for the incumbent Juan Orlando Hernandez. With the electoral tribunal announcing that a final result would be released at 3am, thousands began to gather outside the site of the ballot-counting to protest against the attempt to steal their victory. When former President Manuel Zelaya arrived at the scene, the crowd surged forward and police began tear-gassing the crowd seemingly indiscriminately. Protestors fled running and clutching cloth to their faces and coughing.

In the chaos, tear gas entered the warehouse and election observers were forced to flee, raising concerns about unattended ballots in an election already marked by charges of fraud, vote buying, intimidation, and repression.